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From depression to Alzheimer’s, there’s a lot of excitement and hype surrounding Turmeric and Curcumin. But is it all that they say it is?
Well, in short: Yes, it is. It really is.
1. What is CureCumin?
Curcumin (or Curecumin, as we like to call it) is the main active ingredient from the incredibly popular Indian spice Turmeric. It provides the yellow coloration that seems to dye everything it touches and that gives Indian food it’s beautiful rich golden color. However, its true strengths lie as one of the most important nutritional supplements available today.
Turmeric has been used in traditional Indian and Ayurveda medicine for over 4,000 years, while modern science has just recently begun to fully realize the many benefits of this powerful ingredient. Study after study after study has helped us form a pretty solid picture.
Curcumin is a powerful anti-inflammatory (on par with OTC medications) with strong antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The trouble is that the amount it takes to see benefit from this spice is beyond anything you could ever hope to get from food alone. On top of that, the body doesn’t absorb it as well as it does other supplements, and without help, most curcumin supplementation will be largely ineffective.
For Turmeric/Curcumin to be effective, it has to be 1) Concentrated, and 2) Bioavailable which we will discuss more below.
2. What are the Benefits of Turmeric/Curcumin?
That’s the beauty of this little powerhouse, study after study has proven it effective in multiple treatments of various illnesses including:
- Viral Infections
HIV, Zika, Herpes, and HPV have all shown positive antiviral activity with Curcumin (1)
- Depression
After a 6 weeks trial, curcumin was shown to have benefits that were similar to Prozac and is quickly gaining grown as an add-on treatment (2)
- Cancer
Curcumin has been studied for cancer treatment and has been found to affect tumor growth, development, and spread at the molecular level (3, 4)
- Arthritis
Benefit has also been found in the following:
Alzheimer’s
Heart Disease
Headaches
3. Turmeric/Curcumin as an anti-inflammatory
Inflammation is one of our body’s most powerful weapons against foreign invaders and it is key to physical healing.
However, when inflammation becomes chronic, it can begin to wreak havoc on the body. Unfortunately, western society is highly prone to inflammation due to various food and ecologic triggers.
Low-level inflammation plays a significant role in most chronic, Western diseases, including depression, heart disease, cancer, metabolic syndrome, Alzheimer's, and various other degenerative diseases. (7) Reducing chronic inflammation is vital in preventing and even treating these diseases.
Turmeric/Curcumin fights and reduces inflammation at the molecular level. (8)
4. The Bioavailability of Turmeric/Curcumin
Our bodies love Turmeric, but, unfortunately, curcumin doesn’t pass that easily into the bloodstream. Increasing its bioavailability is key to successful supplementation, and it is important to know what to look for.
There are two methods to increase curcumin bioavailability that rise to the top:
The first is the addition of piperine (the active ingredient in black pepper), which has shown to slow curcumin’s passage through the liver where more can be absorbed, increasing its bioavailability up to 2000% (9)
The second is the creation of an alcohol extract where the fresh cut root is slowly heated to increase both the concentration and the bioavailability, giving it a 3600% increase over your average dry-powdered counterpart. (10) This is the method we use to formulate our CureCumin™ product and it’s the reason it’s one of our most popular offerings.
5. Are there Side Effects of Turmeric / Curcumin?
Not really. Both Curcumin and Turmeric are well tolerated by human beings and are considered safe.
Rarely, at very high doses, some people have experienced turmeric side effects considered mild and non-threatening (12). These include:
Intestinal issues, Bloating, cramping, etc..
Headache and nausea
Mild skin rash
In Summary
Turmeric/Curcumin is a safe, effective supplement, with a powerful array of healing properties with minimal side-effects, however, it is important to remember that not all supplements are created equal. Look for products with high bioavailability in the form of piperine and especially in the form of slow heat and alcohol extraction.
This is why our Curecumin™ product has been formulated as a highly concentrated extract is made using heat and alcohol extraction of fresh Organic, non- GMO, organic sugarcane alcohol, and deep ocean mineral water.
1) Praditya D, Kirchhoff L, Brüning J, Rachmawati H, Steinmann J, Steinmann E. Anti-infective Properties of the Golden Spice Curcumin. Front Microbiol. 2019;10:912. Published 2019 May 3. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00912
2) Sanmukhani J, Satodia V, Trivedi J, et al. Efficacy and safety of curcumin in major depressive disorder: a randomized controlled trial. Phytother Res. 2014;28(4):579-585. doi:10.1002/ptr.5025
3) Ravindran J, Prasad S, Aggarwal BB. Curcumin and cancer cells: how many ways can curry kill tumor cells selectively?. AAPS J. 2009;11(3):495-510. doi:10.1208/s12248-009-9128-x
4) Anand P, Sundaram C, Jhurani S, Kunnumakkara AB, Aggarwal BB. Curcumin and cancer: an "old-age" disease with an "age-old" solution. Cancer Lett. 2008;267(1):133-164. doi:10.1016/j.canlet.2008.03.025
5) Chandran B, Goel A. A randomized, pilot study to assess the efficacy and safety of curcumin in patients with active rheumatoid arthritis. Phytother Res. 2012;26(11):1719-1725. doi:10.1002/ptr.4639
6) Takada Y, Bhardwaj A, Potdar P, Aggarwal BB. Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents differ in their ability to suppress NF-kappaB activation, inhibition of expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and cyclin D1, and abrogation of tumor cell proliferation. Oncogene. 2004;23(57):9247-9258. doi:10.1038/sj.onc.1208169
7) Harvard Men's Health Watch, “Understanding acute and chronic inflammation” https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/understanding-acute-and-chronic-inflammation
8) Chainani-Wu N. Safety and anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin: a component of tumeric (Curcuma longa). J Altern Complement Med. 2003;9(1):161-168. doi:10.1089/107555303321223035
9) Shoba G, Joy D, Joseph T, Majeed M, Rajendran R, Srinivas PS. Influence of piperine on the pharmacokinetics of curcumin in animals and human volunteers. Planta Med. 1998;64(4):353-356. doi:10.1055/s-2006-957450
10) Kurien BT, Singh A, Matsumoto H, Scofield RH. Improving the solubility and pharmacological efficacy of curcumin by heat treatment. Assay Drug Dev Technol. 2007;5(4):567-576. doi:10.1089/adt.2007.064
11) Chainani-Wu N. Safety and anti-inflammatory activity of curcumin: a component of tumeric (Curcuma longa). J Altern Complement Med. 2003;9(1):161-168. doi:10.1089/107555303321223035
12) Lao CD, Ruffin MT 4th, Normolle D, et al. Dose escalation of a curcuminoid formulation. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2006;6:10. Published 2006 Mar 17. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-6-10